Former York academic jailed for sex offences

A former senior research fellow at the University of York has been jailed for possessing and distributing indecent images of children.

Dr Allan Hall, 61, was a member of the Department of Archaeology since 1977 at the University of York before taking early retirement in August 2013.

He pleaded guilty to twenty-one charges of possessing indecent images and films, and eleven charges of distributing material.

North Yorkshire Police conducted a raid on his home in June 2013 after alerts from an investigation in Cheshire. Over 7,000 images were found to be in his possession, some of children as young as 18 months.

Hall had also used Skype to send 56 inappropriate images of himself, and to send videos of boys as young as six being sexually abused. All of the offences occurred before or on June 19, 2013.

Hall was reported to have become isolated since the breakdown of an earlier relationship in 2011. His barrister described him as having “a long and distinguished career which was abruptly brought to an end”.

Judge Guy Kearl QC described him as an “intelligent man”, fuelling “a trade that can only exist because people like you are around to view and distribute the images”.

A University of York spokesman said: “It is a matter of great regret that a former member of the University should have been convicted of these serious offences.”

Hall has been placed on the sex offenders’ register for ten years, and is now under a sexual offences prevention order.